{"id":1259,"date":"2020-10-18T23:16:44","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T05:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.idubbs.com\/blog\/?p=1259"},"modified":"2020-10-19T14:28:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-19T20:28:38","slug":"m365-message-center-and-planner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.idubbs.com\/blog\/2020\/m365-message-center-and-planner\/","title":{"rendered":"M365 Message Center and Planner"},"content":{"rendered":"

I want to highlight a feature that Microsoft added to the M365 Admin Center, specifically to Message Center, and highlight why it\u2019s important for folks \u2013 NOT just administrators \u2013 to be aware of.<\/p>\n

I missed the announcement when this feature was released, but heard about it when listening to one of the M365Voice<\/a> podcasts where Sarah<\/a> mentioned it.<\/p>\n

Overview<\/h2>\n

If you take nothing else away from this blog post, just know this:<\/p>\n

Message Center syncs with Microsoft Planner.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

This feature should be considered for a part of your M365 governance plan. It\u2019s one of those examples where work is being done for you – work that should be setting your change management process up for success. That\u2019s honestly the biggest reason I\u2019m writing this. The feature isn\u2019t getting anywhere near the exposure that it should.<\/p>\n

Anyone that gets Message Center email digests and\/or logs into the Admin Center to check the Message Center should be looking at this. Anyone that wants to keep up to date with system and service outages, with upcoming features, with feature deprecations, with feature and service updates and more should take a look.<\/p>\n

Want to get to the details quickly? Use the links in the References section below to Microsoft\u2019s materials.<\/p>\n

Why<\/h2>\n

So, why is this feature so important? The short answer is \u201cgovernance\u201d. The longer explanation covers a lot of ground and gets into topics like change management. The content delivered via the Message Center is critical to organizations\u2019 ability to manage platforms and services that orgs have come to rely on. Keeping up with those platforms is getting increasingly difficult in a world of cloud-based services where features are changing at a rate that\u2019s challenging to keep current with. The volume of information coming through is also tough to keep up with \u2013 even Microsoft calls this out when announcing the sync feature as a way to help mitigate the issue.<\/p>\n

Access to the Message Center has been another challenge. While updates have been made by the way of new roles and permissions, the Message Center has historically been the realm of administrators, which somewhat slowed or restricted the flow of content to everyone that needed it.<\/p>\n

Finally, targeting or aligning Message Center content with the appropriate audience has also been a challenge both from the content creator side and from the content consumer side. When new content is released, getting it in the hands of the right folks can be critically important. Historically, responsibility for this has fallen on administrators \u2013 the folks most likely to be monitoring Message Center. While admins are certainly capable of doing this job, they\u2019re 1) usually more than busy with their own responsibilities and 2) the \u201cwho should know what\u201d function should really be dictated by governance planning and\/or someone with the high-level vision of what the org is doing with the platforms and services they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n

Extra: The \u201ccrawl\u201d investment to get this feature working is very low. It\u2019s super easy to get the basics configured and up and running. Lots of bang for your buck.<\/p>\n

Walk-through<\/h2>\n

While the \u201chow\u201d of a blog post is usually where the guts of the article are found, in this case the feature is extremely simple. The \u201cwhys\u201d and \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d are really where the interesting stuff is. But let\u2019s step through it anyhow.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Inside of Admin Center, navigate to the Message Center
    \nAdmin (show all) \u2013> Health \u2013> Message Center<\/li>\n
  2. Click \u201cPlanner syncing\u201d
    \n    \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Click \u201cSet up syncing\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Set up your plan:
    \nSelect an existing plan or create a new Microsoft Planner plan (will open a new browser tab) by entering a name and selecting a privacy level.
    \nWithin the plan, create a bucket if needed, and select the bucket that Message Center content will be synced with. A \u201cTo Do\u201d bucket is created by default with new plans. Best practices are TBD yet, but I think something like \u201cInbox\u201d or \u201cTriage\u201d seems like a good place to start and indicates action needs to be taken on items that show up in the bucket. 
    \n    \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Choose messages to sync:<\/li>\n
      \n
    1. All updates vs. major updates<\/li>\n
    2. Select the types of messages<\/li>\n
    3. Select the products or services \u2013 This is where most organizations will likely do a little filtering in terms of which products the organization is using or not using.
      \n      \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    4. Choose which current messages to import:
      \nThe sync does a one-time pull from existing messages in Message Center. Users can select 0-4 weeks worth of content in week increments. This is nice for bringing recent items in, or to just prove the sync and filters are working.
      \n      \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
    5. Review your selections:
      \n      \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
    6. At this point, the connection is set up. The automation is not yet, but is prompted next. Selecting to automate will create a flow using Power Automate.
      \nNote: Sync start date defaults to the current date. If you\u2019d like to select an earlier time in the day, you\u2019ll need to select a future date (tomorrow) to select an earlier time, like something in the middle of the night. Default schedule is once a day but you can schedule it for syncing further apart.<\/li>\n
        \n
      1. Select \u201cCreate flow with Power Automate\u201d
        \n        \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
      2. You may also need to create a connection before creating the flow. This is where you have an opportunity to select the account being used to connect to Message Center. Check the best practices in your org for setting up connections.
        \n        \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      3. That\u2019s it!!
        \nNote: Message Center shows the last sync as well as a link to Sync now in the upper right of the screen.
        \n        \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n
      4. If you chose to sync existing messages, check your Planner plan to see if they\u2019ve come across.
        \n        \"image\"<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Editable and Cancellable<\/h3>\n

        Once the sync has been set up it can still be edited and cancelled. Clicking on the same \u201cPlanner Syncing\u201d link will open the sync details information where settings can be updated and the sync can be cancelled.<\/p>\n

        \"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

        Cancelling the sync will even remove the flow if one was created (nice touch!).<\/p>\n

        Tools Governance<\/h3>\n

        The sync process involves Microsoft Planner at a minimum, and likely also uses Power Automate if you opted for the automatic sync. If those tools were already being used in your organization there are likely already policies, permissions, and practices to consider. If either tool is new to your org, you\u2019ll need to take whatever steps are needed to ensure they are managed properly within the policies of your org.<\/p>\n

        The Roles of Roles<\/h2>\n

        A topic often overlooked is roles from the perspective of technical platforms and services. Now, \u201croles\u201d and \u201cjobs\u201d can be easily confused or thought of as the same thing. Sometimes they are, but often not. In many cases, a person in one job has many roles. It is important though to understand roles for platforms and services. A single person might be a user for one tool, a champion for another, or an owner for something else. Understanding who does what or who\u2019s responsible for something is critical to determine what information \u2013 say, Message Center content – needs to get into whose hands to fulfill their role responsibilities the best they can.<\/p>\n

        It takes time and deliberate effort by an organization to identify and define tech-specific roles and to align policies and procedures around them. Performance and training are obvious reasons to make the investment, but understanding which audience needs to see what content related to change management issues is another legit reason, as is platform ROI improvement.<\/p>\n

        A topic for another time\u2026 Let me know if this is something you\u2019re interested in as I\u2019m working on a service offering around technical platforms, roles, and skills.<\/p>\n

        Once the sync from Message Center to Planner is set up, one hurdle has been bypassed and organizations have a lot more flexibility and options for getting the right information in the right persons\u2019 hands \u2013 significantly improving the org\u2019s ability to deliver for the business.<\/p>\n

        What\u2019s Next<\/h2>\n

        The initial sync configuration covered above is the \u201ccrawl\u201d approach \u2013 getting the connection made between Message Center and Planner \u2013 making the content immediately more accessible. From there, \u201cwalk\u201d and \u201crun\u201d scenarios can take several directions \u2013 depending on your organization\u2019s change management practices, the tools available, the culture within the org, and more. A few potential areas are listed below:  <\/p>\n

        Change Management<\/h3>\n

        The Message Center content is one input into a change management process in the organization \u2013 a process to \u201cprepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations in making organizational change.\u201d<\/a> – whether or not you\u2019ve considered a formal change management process. If the org already has an established process, someone will need to figure out how this content works into the bigger picture. If you don\u2019t have a process, the new plan could be the foundation of a new process.<\/p>\n

        Microsoft Planner<\/h3>\n

        If Planner is already being used, the powers that be will want to consider which plan to use and what rules around that plan need to be implemented. There may be best practices for setting up users, which buckets to create, any automation options that can be used, etc. In the video linked below Microsoft suggests a few different bucket approaches that can be used.<\/p>\n

        Microsoft Teams<\/h3>\n

        If Teams is being used in your organization (more and more likely) then you may want to consider integrating your Message Center plan one or more Teams to facilitate discussions, tasks, and more related to Message Center content, change management, etc.<\/p>\n

        Power Automate<\/h3>\n

        If you\u2019ve scheduled the sync for regular downloads, there is already a flow set up through Power Automate. If Power Automate is already being used at  your organization someone will want to make sure the flow conforms to whatever policies are in place. If Power Automate is new to the org someone will want to review its usage and potentially walk through whatever is required to add a new technology.<\/p>\n

        Let me know what you\u2019d like to hear more about!<\/strong><\/p>\n

        References<\/h2>\n